Centrality dependence of charged particle multiplicity at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at (sNN)=130 GeV

We present a measurement of the pseudorapidity density of primary charged particles near midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at (s_NN)=130 GeV as a function of the number of participating nucleons. The pseudorapidity density, dN_ch/dη\|_\|η\|<1/(1/2<N_part>), rises from 2.87+/-0.21 in peripheral events (<N_part>~83) to 3.45+/-0.18 in central events (<N_part>~353), which is 53+/-8% higher than pp&; collisions at a similar center-of-mass energy. This is consistent with an additional contribution to charged particle production that scales with the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions (N_coll).